The Delancey Brothers
by SCandCK1899
Summary: [Emily's ff]All newsies like to break into the refuge and mess things up right? But what will happen if one of them get caught? Chancey was this unlucky girl who got the nightmare of a lifetime. sequel to Hurtful Love


**Chapter 1-Hangin With the Delancey Brothers**

We ran and we ran, but we weren't sure if we could run fast enough. The Delancey Brothers were on our tail. I felt like looking back, but I knew that if I did, I would surely stumble (or trip over my own foot knowing how clumsy I am). Shoesie leaped through the gate and I followed her just barely making it before it closed. The Delanceys ran into the gate with a clatter putting their arms through the bars trying to catch us. "We will get ya next time ya come seeking around here! Do you here me Chancey! Next time! I promise ya!" Oscar (one of the Delancey brothers) yelled furiously giving us the look of death we knew so well by now for we had done a lot of breaking in and out of the refuge to bother them.

Shoesie stopped running, "Hey, she wasn't the only one….MY NAME IS SHOESIE! HELLO! AM I INVISIBLE NOW! ANSWER ME! HELLO!" I grabbed her and started running again and she stumbled behind me almost falling flat on her face in the process. Shoesie and I stopped running after we got passed the first house we saw and tried to catch our breath. We were laughing uncontrollably and I told Shoesie,

"We betta get back to da lodgin home before Kloppman sends out a search parta." I took a deep breath and sighed a sigh of relief because the Delanceys had been chasing around the refuge for about a half hour before we could even get close to the gate.

"Or Jack does," Shoesie joked. She smirked and I just punched her lightly on the shoulder.

"Oh be quiet….anyway we betta get back…those Delanceys might still be comin afta us….youse neva know," I said and started to walk away towards the lodging home.

"Your right," Shoesie replied and she started walking too. We were still laughing at the Delanceys as we walked. When we got back to the lodging home, we were still laughing and we went up the steps and over to Shoesie's bed. She took off her hat and threw it on her bed with a sigh and a chuckle.

"And where were ya guys?" Jack asked as he walked up to us. Currently, Jack was my boyfriend and we were pretty tight. "I was going to send out a search parta but youse guys walked in right when I was going to." Jack grinned at them and Shoesie looked at me with one eyebrow raised. She was giving me the "I told youse so" look and the "youse's boyfriend" look mixed together into one very weird face. I gave her the "shut up" look and she stopped doing it luckily because that look was really creeping me out.

"Don't you say a word Shoesie," I said very seriously and then smiled. I turned back to Jack as I spoke, "Just messin wit da Delancey brodas," I said to him looking at him with a corny grin.

"Did youse guys go into da refuge again an' make a mess of tings as usual?" he asked looking at me seriously as if he was my father.

"Wat if we did?" I said going closer to him and gave him the "whatcha gonna do about it" look he knows so well. I am one of those girls that are confident that they can take down anyone or anything without breaking a sweat.

"Youse forgot to ask me to go. Next time you can't forget. Botherin da Delanceys is wat I live for an' youse nows it. Don't forget next time youse got to ask me. Ok?" he asked grinning again.

"Youse are such a good boyfriend…...so protective," I said and when I did say protective, I had a big commanding voice.

"I try," Jack said and flashed his amazing grin I love so much. We walked away to his bed and mine (we had the same bunk bed and he was on top….sucker!) leaving Shoesie at her bed rolling her eyes and still laughing.

**Chapter 2-Sell Ya Papes**

I woke up in my bed of course and started to get ready for selling papes. Kloppman was yellin for us to sell ya papes and I just got up and changed. I walked into one of the dressing rooms and I got out fast so I could get to the papes place fast. When I was changed I walked over to Jack and told him to go over to Shoesie and me when he was ready and I walked over Shoesie.

We started to talk about some things like what we were going to do that day and we decided we were going to give Spot an unexpected visit because Shoesie wanted to see her boyfriend (I mean she hadn't seen him in one day! She must be heart broken by now. I know I would be). We told it to Jack and he said he would come to (the way he phrased it though was "We could go on a double date, but u and Spot couldn't start making out." He said this while looking at Shoesie and she just punched him on the shoulder lightly). We all went to the papes place together and got our papes. We started to sell in the same place of course like we always did.

First we went to the wrestling ring because there were always buyers there and then we went to the curbs and so on and so forth. We went to a lot of different selling spots because our papes weren't selling the best that morning. We had a really crappy headline and so we had to improve the truth, but it is all good. I mean what newsie doesn't?

We were walking along and Jack went over to a corner to sell the last of his papes over by the racetracks. Shoesie had gone around the other corner because she was done selling and she was going to buy a drink (like she could afford it). I followed her after a few minutes because I was pretty thirsty myself. I skipped around a corner following Shoesie, happy that we were finally done selling our papes because to me, if you are waited for something, it seems to come slower. "Where are ya Shoesie?" I called as I walked. I started to run and when I got around the corner I literally ran into an unpleasant surprise. I held my head and looked as the clothes of my favorite person in the world.

**Chapter 3-Walking Into a Tramp**

I looked up and saw Morris (the other Delancey) looking down at me. "Hey Chancey. Going somewhere?" he said and laughed. I gulped and when he turned me around, I saw Oscar had Shoesie. Her nose was bleeding and could tell she didn't give Oscar an easy catch (who would? No newsie would give into the Delanceys Brothers without a fight and she proved herself worthy). Morris made me walk over to them. I struggled, but I had no choice. I stepped on his foot, but Oscar just punched me in the stomach and I fell to the ground defenseless. I just coughed and Oscar said,

"Get up girl and follow me. You look lost…..can I help you? The refuge is that way, around that corner over there and you are going to be spending a lot of time there." He started to laughed and so did Morris. They tried to get me up, but I tried to push them away. It didn't work. They just kicked me in the sides and made me stand even though I barely could. "Come on. You're both going to the refuge and no one can save you now that we have you pretty much in the refuge already!" Oscar yelled right in Shoesie's ear. She winced and started to walk with him so she wouldn't get hit. Oscar and Shoesie walked over to me and Oscar whispered in my ear, "I have been waiting a long time for this day. Now you will finally get what you deserve…..you and your friend over there…..finally getting what you have always deserve."

"I wish I could say da same about youse," I whispered back barely. "I wish I could give you all you deserve and what you deserve is to rot in the refuge with your weird brodda!" I yelled in his ear and spat on him. He looked at me in disgust and I smiled a weak smile. He punched me in the stomach again and fell to the ground once again coughing and grasping for air because he knocked the air right out of me. I sat there on my hands and knees looking for some air that I could take in.

"You beast…..well, it doesn't matter because you are about to be put in your cage so that we never have to worry about you or Shoesie again and we will have our revenge." Oscar spat on me too and a sat there in pain and disgust.

"Stop hurting her!" Shoesie yelled and kicked Oscar's shin. He grunted in pain and then punched her in the mouth. Shoesie yelled out in pain as her lip started to bleed.

"Come on girls….lets check out your new home until your around 21 years old," Oscar said and took Shoesie. They started to laugh and Morris started to try and pick me up off the ground. I yelled at the top of my lungs,

"NNNNNOOOOO!" and tried to hurt Morris by punching him in the stomach as hard as I could, but once again….it didn't work. Oscar punched me, this time in the ribs and kicked me in the shin. I knew I was defenseless once again and sadly, they knew it too. I just decided to give up before I got beat to death and I tried to walk as best I could. "I NEVER dreamed this day would come," I thought to myself as they dragged me towards the refuge, "hard labor…….here I come."

I started to cry when I thought of Jack and Spot and how they were going to be mighty sad without us there. And then I thought about Shoesie…..my best friend and soon to be work friend. I thought of all that was going to happen to us and I started to cry harder. "I wish I could see Jack face one last time before I go," I whispered to myself as I was dragged away.

**Chapter 4-Superheroes**

I dragged my feet and tried to walk but I would just hurt myself more so I decided to let Morris just drag me. It was more work for him and I decided that he deserved it so I just let him drag on. Oscar even had to help Morris drag me so he was walking Shoesie and dragging me at the same time.

I heard something coming, but I couldn't pinpoint it. All the sudden I just dropped to the ground with a thud. I hit my head and became very dizzy. I tried to look up and when I did, I saw Jack fighting off Morris with his fists swinging. He gave Morris the head hit and it really sounded like it hurt. Morris fell to the ground and Jack looked over. I looked over at Shoesie too and saw her sitting on the ground not too far away from me staring up at another familiar face witch would happen to be Spot's. He was fighting off Oscar and he also gave the head hit and Oscar fell to the ground. He rubbed his head and found a little bit of blood streaming down his face. He tried to wipe it off, but it just kept going. He gave Spot the look of death, but Spot just smiled and bowed looking proud of his work. He looked at Oscar and said, "Me woik 'ear is done." He walked over to Jack. The guys helped us up and we used them as support.

"Youse Delancey brodas are not lucky we caught youse wit our goils. IF YOUSE EVER COME NEAR DEM AGAIN, WE WILL DO MORE DEN JUST GET YOUSE TA DA GROUND. DO YOUSE GET IT?" Jack yelled looking at the Delanceys.

"Yeah. Stay away from our goils or youse will become best friends with me rod and me slingshot too," Spot yelled. They started to run off, but before they did, Oscar turned around and looked at me and Shoesie. He couldn't stand the best like us, but luckily, they didn't have any support (like a girlfriend of there own!).

"You two may have boyfriends, but that doesn't mean you have bodyguards! We will get you one of these days behind their backs and put you in the refuge! You can count on it!" Jack pretended like he was going to run after them and they started to run away as fast as they could considering how dizzy they were.

"I wonder what caused them to do that to youse. Day usually wouldn't hurt dem dat bad," Spot said to Jack. Me and Shoesie just looked at each other for they knew that because of their messes they made in the orphanage, the Delanceys were going to have a lot more work that night. All I could think was "I am so glad I 'ave Jack or I would probably be in da refuge right at dat moment. Thank you God for Jack and Spot."

**Chapter 5-Caught**

The Delancey Brothers could be anywhere. We had no place to turn. We were very sore after that day, but the upside was we sold more papes because people felt sorry for us which was the only upside. Jack had to get our papes for us because the Delanceys might be at the papes place waiting for us to come. We felt terrible and to make it even worse, the Delanceys were coming after us. We didn't know what to do. Of course we didn't go back to the refuge after that because that would have been just stupid (though most of the stuff newsies did was stupid) and so we just stayed on the down low.

We saw Spot a lot more which was cool, but he had to come to Manhattan because we would probably fall off the Brooklyn Bridge (and smash into a million pieces witch would hurt more than we already did). Then one day, the worst thing that could happen did happen and I was right in the middle of it along with Jack, Shoesie, and Spot.

It all started of course when I woke up. Shoesie and I went to the papes place because Jack said he was going to go soon and meet us there. BAD IDEA! We, when got to the papes place, got our papes of course and went about selling them near the place so that we would meet up with Jack. We didn't see the Delanceys at the papes place that morning so we decided it was ok to get our papes by ourselves that day. It was about 12 and we hadn't met up with Jack yet. I was getting a little worried, but I didn't say anything because we weren't done selling our papes yet. We only had a few more left though.

"I wada were Jack could be," Shoesie said to me looking around worried.

"Hey….he is prolly just sellin some odda place an' it is me job to worry 'bout him…..he's me boyfriend….it is youse's job to worry 'bout Spot remember?" I looked at Shoesie and she let out a chuckle.

"Right," Shoesie said.

"I think you should be worried," we turned around to see Oscar staring at us with the corniest look you have ever seen on his face.

"What do ya want now Osca?" I asked knowing that he wanted to take us to da refuge for payback (I know this stuff because I can read minds…..no…..it was just real obvious……guys like Oscar aren't hard to predicted and youse would find that out if you met him.)

"I want for you two to go to the refuge, clean up the messes at it, and me and my brother to be happy for once so we don't have to chase you guys around," Oscar said.

"That is a lot to wish for……too bad life is too short for it to happen," Shoesie said. I gave her a high five and we chuckled. Oscar just smiled and looked down at his feet and then looked back at Shoesie.

"That is funny Shoesie……because it is going to happen…...right here and right now." Shoesie stopped laughing and put on her "LOSER" look and of course Oscar knew this one all too well. "That is funny Shoesie, but good thing I am letting you off the hook. Your going to the refuge Chancey……with me…..right now."

"Youse seem ratha confident Osca and I respect that, but youse are gonna hafta dream on," I said and started to walk away as well as I could considering I had a beating not 3 days ago. I was about 10 yards away from him when he started talking again.

"I bet you are wondering where Jack is," I stopped and looked at Oscar with devil eyes and the look of death that creped most people out (the look of death on anyone would creep some one out but mine was just plain creepy……I did it in the mirror once).

"What if I am?" I said studying his eyes still giving him my look of pure evil.

"Either you, Chancey, are going to the refuge or he is," Oscar said with a smirk on his face.

"Where's Jack Osca?" I held up a fist and put it down again slowly with a grunt because it hurt so much.

"Doesn't matter where Morris has him. What matters is that if you don't go to the refuge with me, Jack is going to," He still had the smirk on his face. I walked over to Shoesie and took my look of my face and turned on my worried look.

"Find Jack. Tell 'im I went ta da refuge and 'e needs ta get me out," I whispered in her ear.

"No Chance…"'

"If I don't go, Jack will 'ave ta and I don't want to make me boyfriend do dat," I interrupted and walked over to Oscar. I turned my look back on and he took off his smirk. He grabbed my arm and we started walking to the refuge. I shivered in disgust because he was touching my skin, but I had to just deal with it and walk on. Shoesie just watched us walk away for a little while and then started running in the other direction towards the Manhattan lodging home.

**Chapter 6-True Revealed **

Shoesie ran into the lodging home to put away her money under her pillow (she didn't want it to get stolen while she was looking for Jack….anything could happen….you have to keep an open mind because it is New York.) She ran to her bed and was about to put her money away (under her pillow) when she saw some one she thought she would have never seen there.

She saw Jack laying on his bed (apparently taking a breather after selling papes all morning). She walked over to him and gasped and woke him up. He looked up with a startled look on his face (you would be startled too if a girl that was your girlfriend's best friend was hovering over you). "Wat is it Shoesie? Wat is da matta and why are youse hoverin ova me like dat? It is kinda freaky…..wat up?" Jack asked seeing her breathing so hard and looking at him with wide eyes. He sat up and she sat on a bunk close to it. She took a deep breath and let out. She took another and sighed a deep sigh still looking at him with wide eyes.

"We ran into the Oscar and he said that Morris had you, though I have no clue how and why we believed him, and if Chancey didn't go to the refuge, they would take you there so she is at the refuge probably crying. She is probably also doing all the extra work for the messes we made in dare from every time we stopped by," Shoesie said all in two breaths and took a deep breath after. Jack looked at her with wide eyes (just so you know…..the deer in the headlights look which was the same look she was giving him when she saw him). He looked at Shoesie and said,

"Come on," he said, "we 'ave some business to take care of wit da Delanceys…..we gotta get me girlfriend back."

"And my friend!" Shoesie said angrily.

"Yeah dat too." He chuckled. Jack grabbed her and they ran down the stairs (almost tripping) and then ran out on the street looking around. The first place the headed was for the Brooklyn Bridge to get a certain some one's help.

**Chapter 7-The Decision**

"WHAT!" Spot yelled in anger when he heard what the Delanceys had done to Chancey. He got very angry and even Jack was a little scared of his expression. "Wat twisted minds. If I eva get me 'ands on those two again I'll…."

"It doesn't matta wat youse would do," Jack interrupted, "wat mattas is dat we need to get Chancey out of dare." Shoesie and Spot nodded in agreement (Spot put on his normal face) and Jack spoke again. "We need more people to get 'er out of dare like Racetrack and Kid Blink…..come on…..we need to find 'em before I gets too dark. We are breakin into the refuge tonight."

They ran back over the Brooklyn Bridge, this time with Spot, and Spot helped Shoesie along because she couldn't run the best. They went to look for Racetrack and Kid Blink. It wasn't hard to find them because that night was poker night and Racetrack would never miss a chance to cream some one at poker. And Kid Blink would never miss an opportunity to show Racetrack that he was as funny as Race was.

They ran into the lodging home and looked at the newsies. "We need some of youse help," Shoesie said to all of the newsies playing poker and some just layin on their beds.

"Wat 'appened?" Kid Blink asked looking at them sort of scared.

"Chancey was taken to da refuge by Osca….dat little worm," Spot answered with the look of death upon his face and Jack was once again a little freaked out. "We 'ave to get 'er out. We can't let 'er rot in dare wit da Delancey Brodas telling 'er wat ta do. She will 'ave hard laba for da rest of 'er life!"

"I'm coming," Kid Blink said and stood up. He walked to his bed and got his hat off the pillow and put it on. Then he walked over to the wall and got a rope that was hanging from a nail on the wall just in case they would need it.

"Me too," Racetrack said and also stood up letting go of his cards and swiping up the money he had laid down for that hand. Kid Blink did the same because he had forgot to do it before.

"Me tree," Mush answered and ran over to his bed to get his hat. He put it on and said, "lets soak 'em for Chancey."

**Chapter 8-The Refuge**

Meanwhile, while my peeps were making a plan to get me out (and I got all this info from them), I was at the refuge of course being bored, cold, and sore. Very sore. Very bored. Very very cold. I had been here before, but it had definitely gotten worse since I had been there. First of all, the first time I was there….I was with other boys and girls in a bunk room….not this time. This time I was in my own room that was cold dark and uncomfortable. The cot was broken and all I got for light was a little lamp. You didn't really want a light in there anyway because you would see the mice run around from crack in the wall to the next. Second, I had to pick up all the messes that me and Shoesie made (of course I couldn't pick up them all in one afternoon…only like 1/8 of them); I wasn't used to cleaning up after myself because I live on the street…they don't teach you this stuff on the street. No one teaches you anything on the streets. I was about ready to pull my hair out and then we come to where I was.

That night I was in my "cell" and I was stretching trying to get less sore. I didn't work. I sat down by the wall and looked out the window up and the stairs. I didn't sit on the cot because I couldn't bring it over to the window and because the floor was rock solid and still more comfortable than the cot was. The only good thing about this was that I got free meals which weren't really meals (more like left overs or stuff heading for the garbage……and I even felt like I was eating cardboard once). At least it was food right? Better than nothing I guess.

The stars were so beautiful that night and I started to hear noises at that moment coming from the street beside the refuge. I looked down and saw guards chasing what looked like a little ant and screaming for them to come to them. I looked closer and saw it was Jack! (The cowboy hat gave it away). I smiled and looked at the other side of the street. I couldn't make out the figures, but I thought I saw at least 3 more people. "Jack is a diversion. Whatta plan. Betta than I could think up. Thank goodness Shoesie found him." I smiled. I whispered, "I love you Jack…..my hero." I saw the other people go through the gate and single something to Jack. At that moment, Jack smashed the two guard's heads together, not as hard as possible, but still a little hard and they fell to the ground unconscious. Jack ran through the gate and I just watched them until I couldn't see them anymore. They disappeared behind the black gate right as it closed.

**Chapter 9-No Hope**

I heard some one coming up the stairs and I really hoped it was Jack. I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. The door opened and there stood a dark figure. "Accuse me miss," the figure said with a deep voice, "I believe youse don't belong 'ere." The figure stepped into the light. My heart was pounding and as the figure did step into the light, I looked into its eyes, and saw that they were bright and filled with love….I saw the face and saw the face of a certain boyfriend of mine and I smiled at him. He helped me up and I hugged him for about a minute. "Come on," he said in his normal voice, "we need to get out of 'ere. Day will send up more guards any minute. We gotta get youse outta here."

"Ok…..me night in shinin armor," I said. He smiled.

"I try," he said back and gave me his amazing smile as usually and I just smiled back. We walked out of the "cell" to find Shoesie, Racetrack, Mush, Kid Blink, and Spot looking at me and Jack….waiting for us to come out. I gave them each a hug (friendly) and a smile and we started out of that horrid place. I ran down ahead of them and got down the stairs. I turned to look and them and they came down faster. We turned to the gate and saw an unexpected surprise when we looked into the Delancey Brothers eyes.

"And where do you think you guys are going," Morris asked.

"All the leader newsies including Spot! You guys must really care about Chancey. Well we are sure to get a little extra for the leaders of the newsies….without you they will probably not know what to do. Thanks for being our bate Chancey….we neva could have done it without you," Oscar said with a laugh.

We all felt something behind us grab us and of course none of us were thinking that there might be guards sneaking around behind us. And of course, because of the newsie nature, we started to fight them and of course we got them all down to the ground. There were moans and groans everywhere, but we just didn't pay attention to them because we had bigger things to worry about. What would you expect? We started walking towards the Delancey Brothers. They just smiled and when we looked behind us we saw even more guards then before and they did something unexpected…..they all grabbed Shoesie for no reason at all. She shrieked and wiggled, but she couldn't get herself free. She punched one or two but of course it didn't work and she just stood there wiggling and trying to get free. One punched her in the stomach and she wiggled a little less but not much. I had caused this to happen to my best friend and I wasn't going to just stand there and let it happen. I walked up to the Delancey Brothers and stood right in front of them with my fists clenched.

**Chapter 10-Cluesless Losers**

I walked over and stood in front of the Delancey Brothers with a blank look on my face. "Don't take Shoesie…I caused dis…..take me and get youse's revenge on me and let them go….even dough youse guys don't even deserve revenge. I give in. Take me and not me friends." When I said that, the other newsies just looked at me with wide eyes because they had never thought I would do something like that, but why not? She is my best friend. They looked at me for awhile confused and the "I can't believe this is happening" face. Then they grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me around and put a rope around my hands, but little did they know about what a had up my sleeve. My plan was risky and sneaky, and the Delanceys were in for a treat…..a real treat and they didn't even know it yet.

"Get them," Morris pointed to the other newsies. All the others when into fight mode and kicked the guards rears. Shoesie also fought off the guards around herself even though everyone thought that she might be too weak from the beating the day or two before. She kicked and punched with no mercy once so ever.

Soon, all the guards were lying on the ground moaning and groaning and Jack was making sure none of them were going to try sneak attacks on them. He started to get closer and then stopped because he remembered that Chancey was captured by the Delanceys. He looked and me with the worried face and I winked at him. He knew my plan and he gave me a grin and started to step back a little to the other newsies. Shoesie looked at him with the same face he gave me and he winked too. She grinned and looked at me smiling. I smiled back and switched to my look of pure evil with the scary smile to top it off. The wink was carried through all the newsies there and the Delanceys had no idea what was happening, but they didn't care. All the newsies step forward a step.

"It doesn't matter if you got all our guards," Oscar said, "as long as we have Chancey….you guys can't do anything to us." They started to laugh and all the sudden, without them expecting anything, I kicked my feet up and hit them both in the bad spot. They both squealed and fell to the ground in pain. I laughed and said to them,

"Clueless losers." I walked over to Shoesie and she untied my hands. We hugged and all of us (except Spot of course. He went back to Brooklyn), opened the gates and ran back to the lodging home as fast as we could considering our condition of course.

**Chapter 11-Welcome Home**

When they got there, Kloppman was reading a newspaper and he looked up. "Good to see ya Chancey," he said, "I didn't think you would make it back."

"Thanks Kloppman. It's good to be back." We walked up the stairs and saw some of the guys still playing poker. We walked over to them and they all gave me a shout out and said they were glad I was ok.

"Hey Chancey….glad youse got rid of does Delanceys. Who else would we pick on," Specs said and everyone gave a chuckle. I went over and punched him on the shoulder.

"Yeah Chancey….good you could come back….we missed pickin on ya," Boots said.

"Hey….no one picks on my goil," Jack said putting a fist up with a smile and a wink.

"Youse don't pay attention to wat 'appens be'ind youse back," Kid Blink. The newsies started laughing. Jack just stared at them.

"It is ok Jackyboy…..I don't think any of them are manly enough to get me down even wit me being beat up already. Day aren't smart enough ta master da brilliance known as me," I said looking very proud at all the newsies. They just chuckled a little.

"Yeah Chance….youse are right and I am glad youse are back," Racetrack said, "I mean who else would be funner to whip at poka?" All the newsies started cracking up, but that joke was too much for me and I exploded and started chasing Racetrack around the lodging home. Soon I was done and had my revenge by running Racetrack out of breath and stealing his hat and pinning him to the ground. I looked at him.

"Told youse," I said with a snicker and got off him. Jack gave me a high five and I just smiled. He got up and wiped himself off. Soon after that, Mush, Racetrack and Kid Blink went back to playing poker and Shoesie went over to her bed. Kid Blink had put the rope back and they all took their hats off and set them on their beds. I didn't take off mine, but I did see Jack hang his cowboy hat on the wall and watch the guys play poker. I would have played too, but I didn't really feel in the mood to play. Besides….I would probably just lose money I worked hard for. What is the fun in that? I climbed out the window and unto the roof. I looked up at the stars and smiled and felt the breeze on my face.

**Chapter 12-Dancing in the Moonlight**

I sat on the roof and looked up all the stars. They were so bright and I had a much better view from here then from the refuge. "Can I sit down?" I turned around to see Jack there looking at me. I nodded and he sat down. "So how does it feel to be out of the refuge?" he asked studying my eyes and looking up at the stars himself.

"Great, but while I was in there, I noticed that I have so much compared to a lot of the kids in there. A place to stay, the newsies, and not to mention a great boyfriend." Jack smiled and stood up. He looked up and the stars once more and then looked back at me.

"Would you like to dance me lady?" he asked as if he were a gentlemen (but if you were a newsie, you would think he was a great gentlemen. If you were a real rich lady, you would think he was just a silly, want-to-be rich boy.)

"Why yes sir….I would love to dance," I answered with a laugh and took his hand. He helped me up and we started to dance right there on the roof in the moonlight. I looked at him and he looked back at me. "I love youse Jack." I said.

"Dido," he said and we both leaned in and well you know.

"Ewww….get a room," we both looked over to see Shoesie climbing through the window and looking at us. We both laughed and let go of each others hands.

"Ohh come on Shoesie….it's not like you and Spot haven't done it before," I said looking at her.

"True," she said with a chuckle. We grinned and she joined us on the roof and we all three sat down with me in the middle.

"So what do you guys think?" Jack asked looking at them, "what did you learn from all this?" I whispered something in Shoesie's ear and we looked at Jack,

"We learned that we are going to be more careful next time and maybe run faster once we are healed," I said very seriously, but once I did say it, I had to chuckle once or twice. Jack looked at us with a serious face and then started laughing. We joined him and we all looked up at the stars.

"Dats me goils," Jack whispered to us and we just watched the stars glitter and sparkle in the night sky.

"I get a wish!" I yelled, "I saw a shooting star!" I closed my eyes and when I opened them again Shoesie asked,

"What did you wish for?"

"This….you two, Spot, a good life and guess what? It has already come true." I laughed and they just hugged me for awhile and I just smiled. "It is great to be loved" I thought as I was being hugged. "I couldn't dream of a happier ever after than this. This is the best life I could ever want…..right in the middle of my best friends in the world," I thought and hugged on.

"I am glad youse are back Chance. Did I say dat already?" Jack asked kissing me on the cheek.

"I don't know," I answered, "but I love hearing it." He smiled and I looked at Shoesie. She smiled back at me and we all three looked back at the stars.

**Chapter 13-Swift Feet**

I ran through the gate and out into the street. Spot had gone before me (that wimp…..just kidding) and Jack and Shoesie followed me just barely making it through. The gates closed and the Delancey Brothers slammed into them hard with a thud. They put their arms through the gates trying to get us. We just stood there laughing our heads off at the Delanceys and they just gave us their looks of death. "Mark my words you leaders of the small: we will get you," Morris yelled and we started to walk away. We turned around. Jack was giving them the face of "never gonna happen", Spot was trying to beat their look of death with one of his own, and Shoesie was just trying to get a look at Spot whenever she could with a silly grin. I was standing in between them (bad idea) and Shoesie was standing in between me and Jack (also a bad idea).

"Yeah right," Shoesie said looking at Spot and he noticed. He flashed Shoesie his awesome grin and he walked around me and over to her. She just hugged him. He kissed the top of her head and she smiled.

"Get a room," the Delanceys yelled at Spot and he switched on his look of death and did it again.

"Now guys day are right for once in dare lives…..I mean, we don't wantta hurt dare feelins by showin dem how great it is ta date wen all day 'ave is imaginary galfriends," I said and we all started laughing in the Delanceys faces. The Delanceys, once again, gave us the look of death and tried to grab us again even though we were at least 40 feet away from the gates. I walked closer to the Delanceys so their arms could not touch me, but I was right in front of them. I smiled and whispered,

"I am glad youse guys are finally gettin wat youse deserve….to rot in da refuge." I laughed in their faces and they just tried to reach at me in anger. I walked over to the others and they joined me in laughing at the Delanceys. We started to walk away. It was about time for Spot to go back to Brooklyn and we stood talking in a main street near the lodging home.

"So wat are we doin tomorrow?" Spot asked before he left looking at all of us.

"I say dat we bodder some Delanceys we all now and love by screwing some tings up at da refuge or just hang out," I said with a grin and the evil eye. Spot just looked at me with his awesome grin, once again, and said,

"I say dat wat you say……is wat I say." He gave me his corny grin and we did the famous spit handshake. Jack did it with him too and so did Shoesie even though she thought it was gross. She figured that "I will share spit with him sometime so it is ok." I laugh at this way of thinking, but it is Shoesie. We all watched him as he started to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. He turned around and Jack and me waved and of course Shoesie blew a kiss. We turned around and I said to Jack,

"Race to da poka table?" he looked at me and started running and I started after him.

"They make love complicated," Shoesie said to herself with a chuckle and walked into the lodging home.


End file.
